A simple way to beat the summer heat.

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thHot enough for ya? That’s what I figured. Although recent temperatures aren’t unduly onerous except in places like Phoenix, even an 80-something day can take the starch right out of you.

That’s why this week’s giveaway is a two-pronged approach to beating the heat: a literary getaway and a cold to drink, consumed in an air-conditioned place, to go with it.

 

If you’re having a hard day in a hot office or working construction in the blazing sun, a few excerpts from “Cold Starry Night: An Artist’s Memoir” could help you keep things in perspective. Author Claire Fejes was a promising artist in New York City in the mid-1940s when her husband decided to move to Fairbanks.

Like any other woman of that era was expected to do, Fejes followed her husband north even though she believed her own career was important. While expected to care for the children and run the household, which was a true challenge in those days (see below), Fejes persevered and became a renowned painter and author of five books, including “People of the Noatak” and “The Villagers: Athabaskan Indian Life Along the Yukon River.”

She was pregnant with their first child during their first winter in Fairbanks, a season she described this way in her journal:

“It is 65 degrees below zero today. My first winter in Alaska is the coldest Fairbanks has ever seen; a siege of four weeks that has broken all records. I sit with my feet stuck in the oven door of our woodstove, trying to keep warm in two sweaters, long underwear under wool pants, two pairs of wool socks and Joe’s old fur slippers…”

Later in that chapter Fejes writes a letter to her sister:

“It’s 58 below zero today….Fairbanks has been declared a semi-emergency situation. The brakes freeze and the car wheels feel square and bump terribly. Planes haven’t been able to fly or land out of the airport due to ice fog. … Sewer facilities have been breaking down and some people have been forced to move out of homes that weren’t warm.”

Feeling cooler yet? Even if you aren’t, you should at least feel lucky that you’re not seven months pregnant and having to walk to the store at 65 below.

The winner of this week’s giveaway will also get a $5 Starbucks gift card. Take the book with you to the coffee shop and linger in the air-conditioned coolth with your favorite iced beverage. And when you finally leave the place, keep this image in mind:

“At four o’clock in the afternoon, with stars overhead, the circle of the moon was the brightest shape in the landscape. I walked faster, burying my nose in my fur (parka) ruff, trying to keep warm…My knees felt transparent, bones frigid, ice penetrated to my essence.”

Brrrr.

You can enter up to six ways:

If you do any (or all!) of these things, please leave separate, additional comments to get credit for each entry.

The deadline is 7 p.m. PDT Tuesday, July 7. If I don’t hear back from the winner by 7 p.m. PDT Wednesday, July 8, I’ll pull another name.

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123 thoughts on “A simple way to beat the summer heat.”

  6. I am not usually a Starbucks fan, but a friend got me one of those berry drinks and it was very refreshing. And I will read anything. Cold in July in Houston would be wonderful!

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  24. I follow you by email too. The book sounds interesting and your giveaways are always so much fun. I have lived in cold places and much prefer it to sweltering in the summer. You can always put more clothes on, but public decency doesn’t always allow me to take enough clothing off when it’s over 100 degrees F.

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  28. …”if it’s free …it’s for me!” I would love a nice treat…What a gifted author Clare Fejes is….MAN….65 below….had to be tough.

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  29. New England summer is just cranking up here, which people are happy for after the brutal winter we just had. That said, I’m sure I’d be happy for a cool beverage and cold literary references!

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  46. Triple digits all week and a broken ac:( we’re not used to this in the Pacific Northwest. Love to cool down your way.

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  67. Looks like a very interesting read! And, Starbucks cards will never go to waste around here. Chicago is unusually cold this summer…and after a two winters in a row that taught us what a “polar vortex” is, well, it’d probably be a hot drink enjoyed here!

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  71. It’s been uncharacteristicly hot in the Puget Sound Area. A cold reminder would be a refreshing read in front of our fan.

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  79. Please put me in. Sure could use an iced coffee right now, although it wasn’t bad here today. I subscribe to your emails.

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  80. Don’t know if this is the way to do it, but I also subscribed to your write a blog thing too! Can’t wait for it.

    Reply

  117. What a great giveaway! It’s been in the 90’s here in Texas and I could use a nice cool Starbucks drink. Plus, the book sounds like my type of read.

    Reply

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